HSK Checker

Paste Chinese text, see its HSK level. Every word highlighted by level, with breakdown, words above your level, and an unknown-words study list. Free, instant, no signup. Runs entirely in your browser.

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My level:

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1234567–9beyond lists

Level breakdown

Words above your level — learn these first

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Unknown words (not in any HSK list)

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How to use

Paste any Chinese text above — grading is live as you type (first 5,000 characters).
Set my level to yours: words above it collect into a study list with pinyin, meanings, and links into our dictionary entries.
Pick reading where you already know ~90% of words — enough to follow and pick up the rest from context. Too hard burns you out; too easy teaches nothing.

For teachers

Paste a handout, story, or exam passage before class: the breakdown shows whether it fits your students' band, and the above-level list is your pre-teach vocabulary with meanings ready. Traditional characters are recognized too.

Honest limits

Segmentation is longest-match, not AI. At each position the longest HSK word wins. That is right almost always, but genuinely ambiguous strings can split differently than a native speaker would.
Names and new words show as unknown. People, places, brands, internet slang, and words coined after the lists are not in any HSK band — unknown does not mean unimportant.
Not an exam. This grades vocabulary, not grammar, listening, or writing. Treat the estimate as a starting point for choosing material.

HSK 3.0 levels — what this checker grades

Nine bands in three stages. Counts are this checker's unique written forms per band (10,960 total).

Level	New words	Running total	Typical ability
HSK 1	506	506	Greetings, introductions, basic phrases
HSK 2	750	1,256	Daily routines, shopping, simple topics
HSK 3	950	2,206	Travel, opinions, experiences
HSK 4	973	3,179	Work discussions, news, formal writing
HSK 5	1,058	4,237	Business, academic reading, culture
HSK 6	1,120	5,357	Professional fluency, literature, debate
HSK 7–9	5,603	10,960	Academic and professional mastery (one shared exam band)

HSK 3.0 vs the old HSK 2.0

Six levels became nine, and same-numbered levels hold different words — an old HSK 4 is not HSK 3.0 level 4. Beware articles quoting the 2021 framework numbers (500 / 1,272 / 2,245 …): those were proficiency descriptors, not the exam. The exam syllabus counts below, and the new exams rolled out from 2026.

Level	HSK 2.0 (old exam)	HSK 3.0 (current exam)
1	150	300
2	300	500
3	600	1,000
4	1,200	2,000
5	2,500	3,600
6	5,000	5,400
7–9	—	11,000

FAQ

How do I check the HSK level of a text?: Paste it above — highlighting and breakdown appear as you type.
Which word list does this use?: HSK 3.0 nine-band, 10,960 words. Words in several bands grade at the lowest.
Can this tell me my HSK level?: No — it grades text, not people. Read at the estimated level and see if it flows.
Simplified or traditional?: Both grade correctly; levels follow the simplified standard forms.
Is my text uploaded anywhere?: No — the list downloads once and everything runs locally.

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Word levels: hsk30 by Ivan Krasnov, MIT License. Meanings: CC-CEDICT, CC BY-SA 4.0.